SUFJAN STEVENS

The BQE

2010-01-12

After the amazing collections of "Michigan" and "Illinois," leave it to Sufjan Stevens to tackle another historic-driven musical venture: the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (or BQE). Commissioned to do music and a film documentary, Stevens did meticulous research and delivered an instrumental soundtrack that intends to tell the story of this controversial roadway (which cuts through neighborhoods with hair-raising turns that make our own S-Curve look like a garden path). If you liked the instrumental passages in his previous discs, you will appreciate the layers of instruments and themes that he presents here. If you're wondering what's with the women with hula hoops on the CD jacket, Stevens makes the connection and contrast between the BQE and the invention of the hula hoop, invented the same year the expressway was completed. Hard to imagine what this guy will do next! Amazingly talented, often hyper-intellectual, never boring. 01/10 F-Esoteric (Instrumental) Michael J.

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Folk

  • reviewed 01/2007

    NEIL YOUNG & CRAZYHORSE
    Live

  • reviewed 05/2007

    Sonny Smith
    Fruitvale

  • reviewed 06/2005

    Devil in a Woodpile
    In Your Lonesome Town

  • reviewed 01/2017

    Blake Rainey & His Demons
    Helicopter Rose

  • reviewed 09/2008

    RODNEY CROWELL
    – Sex & Gasoline

  • reviewed 10/2010

    AMERICAN GRAVEYARD
    Hallelujahland

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.